Photosynthesis may help treat heart disease: Study

Boston: Stanford scientists have found that using blue-green algae and light to trigger photosynthesis inside the heart could help treat cardiac disease, the top cause of death globally. Researchers injected a type of bacteria into the hearts of anaesthetised rats with cardiac disease.

Using light to trigger photosynthesis, they were able to increase the flow of oxygen and improve heart function. "The beauty of it is that it's a recycling system," said Joseph Woo, from Stanford University in the US. "You deliver the bacteria, they take up carbon dioxide, and with energy from the light, they form oxygen," Woo said.

The genesis of this somewhat mind-boggling concept sprang from scientists searching for new ways to deliver oxygen to the heart when blood flow is restricted, Woo said. This condition, known as cardiac ischemia, is most often caused by coronary artery disease.

"In nature, humans exhale carbon dioxide and plants convert it back to oxygen. During a heart attack, the muscle is still trying to pump. There's carbon dioxide but no oxygen," said Woo. "We wondered if there were any way to use plant cells and put them next to heart cells to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide," he said.